So... I got a PM from Googleshng yesterday at the same time I was telling my friend about some cosplay I saw at a con on Saturday. That's how I thought of doing a Glistening Chests campaign based on Queen's Blade. I mean, they both have women fighting basically using an HP system based on their clothes, right? They totally fit! We could do it~!

And it would be the worst possible anime RP ever. Like, the quintessence of every terrible thing ever said about anime fans and RPG players.

Sadly, I don't have the time to devote to such a game these days (unless people want to play at, like, 9 AM PST), but I'm sure there are people here who have the sheer moral turpitude required to organize and play in a campaign like this. And I want to hear all about it.

So hey, kinda cross-posting this from trading time, but a friend of mine has this wacky notion of opening a store almost-exclusively dedicated to buying and selling used tabletop games and RPGs, and is generally pestering me to shake people down to build the initial inventory up. So if anyone's sick of anything taking up shelf space, pester away and such.

My group will be starting up a D&D campaign again soon, and right now we're getting everything set up. I decided to try something different so I'm rolling a Pixie Bard, but we're having trouble finding a good miniature to represent my character. Does anyone know of any that would work?

My group will be starting up a D&D campaign again soon, and right now we're getting everything set up. I decided to try something different so I'm rolling a Pixie Bard, but we're having trouble finding a good miniature to represent my character. Does anyone know of any that would work?

I'm not quite certain what sort of scale you're working at, or what gender your character is, but let me suggest a few.

If you feel reasonably crafty, Reaper et al has assorted body parts, including wings, that you can glue onto another miniature. So you can pick a mini you like and slap 'em on for more choices.

How many of you guys do/have done free-form online roleplaying? I got roped into being the sort-of organizer, I guess. I suppose I'm mostly looking for general advice. It's been a long time since I've done this, and I feel like I was flaky before.

I've been watching a lot of video on Youtube re: board games. One of my favorites is the channel Watch it Played. The guy explains the rules and plays the board game with his kids and he gets suggestions from viewers as to what someone's next move should be.

I'm currently watching his videos on Wrath of Ashardalon and plan on watching his LoTR LCG videos next.

Basically, everyone gets together in a studio space and plays 4 hour RPG slots all weekend. All the attendees run at least one game, and there is a beginner track for noobs. Since it's curated, the only games getting played are ones written by Luke Crane / Vincent Baker / John Harper:

Luke Crane:

Burning Wheel

Burning Empires

Mouse Guard

FreeMarket

Vincent Baker:

Apocalypse World

Dogs in the Vineyard

Kill Puppies for Satan

Otherkind

Poison'd

In Wicked Age

Rock of Tahmaat

Murderous Ghosts

John Harper:

Lady Blackbird

Agon

Danger Patrol

Who lives nearby and wants to let me crash on their couch that weekend so I don't have to travel from Philly twice or only go for a day? I want to play Freemarket without the cost of like, actually buying Freemarket!

Damn, that sounds pretty amazing. I think my favorite thing about it is how everyone has to run a game, I think the hobby would be in a much better place if people realized that in the end, there's nothing really special about people who run games, aside from maybe putting in a bit more time between sessions.

Damn, that sounds pretty amazing. I think my favorite thing about it is how everyone has to run a game, I think the hobby would be in a much better place if people realized that in the end, there's nothing really special about people who run games, aside from maybe putting in a bit more time between sessions.

Totally. I might have a small crew now with Austin, and I'm debating whether to do beginner's track or not. I can run Apocalypse World and Mouse Guard no problem, but my BW chops aren't great.

Damn, that sounds pretty amazing. I think my favorite thing about it is how everyone has to run a game, I think the hobby would be in a much better place if people realized that in the end, there's nothing really special about people who run games, aside from maybe putting in a bit more time between sessions.

Yeah. But running games takes a very different set of skills from those the hobby has traditionally emphasized as "good player" skills.

Yeah. But running games takes a very different set of skills from those the hobby has traditionally emphasized as "good player" skills.

The attitude of "everyone has to GM" at Burning Con is probably influenced by the game that it grew out of. Burning Wheel wants players to do a lot of GM stuff like invoke rules and riff off of other players and the GM's NPCs, but I personally don't find that to be disruptive to the relationship between players and GM; it's basically how we played 3e/Pathfinder. Plus, I think a lot of people are better at GMing than they realize.

Yeah. But running games takes a very different set of skills from those the hobby has traditionally emphasized as "good player" skills.

That's true, I guess for me it's a mix of selfishness (if more people/friends GMed, I'd get to actually play once in a while) and that I feel that GMing has definitely helped me as a player in rare times I've had a chance to play.

Also I think it'd help people get exposed to more games as well, and I would love that as well.

EDIT: And my perspective might be a little skewed as well. My group at the moment for example, is made mostly of people who never really did a lot of RPing before I started the game I'm running for them. A couple had played in the past a little bit, but most of their exposure before that was the computer RPGs based on Dungeons and Dragons. Getting them to give GMing a shot, I think, would help combat that feel that D&D is kinda the be all, end all of RPG systems and get them thinking a bit more about how players can have narrative control.